American Airlines is expanding its service to one of the Caribbean’s hottest destinations. 

The world’s largest airline is extending its daily service between New York and Antigua through the fall and winter season, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

The airline’s new schedule includes daily service from Aug. 16 through Nov. 2. 

That route operates between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Antigua’s VC Bird International Airport. 

It had previously been set to end on Aug. 15 and resume in November. 

That means Antigua will now see seven flights a week from New York from August through the end of 2022. 

That’s along with existing twice-daily flights from Miami to Antigua. 

“Demand for Antigua and Barbuda is extremely strong at this moment, and from all indications and feedback from our airline and hotel partners who are working to keep up with the surge in consumer demand, we will have a significantly busy summer straight into winter similar to what was experienced last year”, said Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Tourism, Charles Fernandez. 

Indeed, the destination continues to sizzle, with increased demand for both Antigua and, more recently, the island of Barbuda, for which the ABTA just launched a major new tourism push.

Indeed, Antigua expects to close the gap between 2022 and 2019 (pre-pandemic) arrival figures. 

2019 had been the best-ever year for tourism stay over arrivals to the destination. 

“We have been consistent in our lobbying efforts to the airline, encouraging them to maintain the daily service during our shoulder period when they would have normally pulled back,” said said Colin C. James, CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. “Demand is at an all-time high and we are pleased with the renewed confidence that American Airlines has placed in Antigua, by putting on these additional flights.  We now have some remarkably strong lift coming into Antigua.”

For more, visit Antigua and Barbuda.

The post American Airlines Is Expanding Its Antigua Flights  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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It remains one of the great frontiers for Caribbean travel aficionados: Bocas del Toro, the spectacular archipelago in the Caribbean waters off the coast of Panama. 

For years, it’s also been home to the vast majority of overwater bungalow resorts in the region, at least until Sandals entered the space several years ago. 

But now there’s another significant new addition: Bocas Bali, a luxury overwater resort in the heart of Bocas del Toro. 

The resort, which opened late last year, has a mix of 16 overwater villas, along with a 70-foot freshwater pool and an eatery called Elephant House. 

Most notably, Bocas Bali has created what it calls the world’s first “aerial beach,” an elevated, 90-foot-long, 20-foot-wide beach set on a platform. 

“We have the most picturesque private island retreat at Bocas Bali and the only thing missing was the beach,” says Dan Behm, owner and founder of the hotel. “We wanted to create an experience in a class by itself that pays homage to the incomparable natural setting while providing our guests the luxury of a private beach experience on our exclusive island.”

The beach, called Kupu-Kupu (which comes from the Indonesian word for Butterly), has white sand, lounge chairs and a lounge called the Tipsy Bar. 

Green quartz-tiled stairs cascade down from the beach to allow guests to go straight into the water. 

The property is also 100 percent off the grid, powered by solar energy, using an eco-friendly wastewater treatment system and a construction process that specifically avoided any coral interference. 

“Sustainable luxury is the core of Bocas Bali,” says Scott Dinsmore, general manager of Bocas Bali. “We are very proud of what we have created.”

For more, visit Bocas Bali. 

The post The Caribbean’s Newest Overwater Bungalow Resort Is in Panama appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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They call her the “Pickleball Queen.”

Anna-Maria Joseph’s love affair with the game began during the pandemic, when hotels in Antigua were closed. 

At the time, the tourism executive was living at Elite Island Resorts’ St James’s Club, and Elite Chairman Robert Barrett suggested she go and learn pickleball to fill the time. 

The all-inclusive St James’s Club and Villas is arguably the Caribbean capital of pickleball, with three different courts — a vibrant home for a sport that continues to surge in popularity, particularly in the United States, Antigua’s top source market. 

Indeed, Elite has placed a premium on the game, which combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping pong and is played with a rectangular, round-edged paddle. 

“I decided to learn, and I and my daughter and other friends started playing,” Joseph says. “That’s how I became a pickleball queen.”

Joseph, who has a mask adorned with Pickleball Queen to prove it, leads the sport’s programming at St James’s Club and the nearby Hammock Cove resort, which also has two courts of its own. 

She’s also available to all guests that are looking for a game, or if their traveling partners aren’t players themselves. 

More and more guests are seeking out both resorts for their pickleball offerings. 

Pineapple Beach Club, an adults-only Elite Island Resorts property on nearby Long Bay in Antigua, is also planning to add four more courts. 

“It started with just a few guests. Over time, it started to pick up, and now a lot more people are getting involved with playing the game,” she says. “There are so many enthusiastic people.”

There are even plans to create a tournament or start a local professional league on the island, in an effort to get the community in Antigua to try out the sport. 

“I play every day if I can,” Joseph says. “It’s a very addictive sport.”

For more, visit Elite Island Resorts and check Pickleball Antigua on Instagram. 

The post In Antigua, the Caribbean Capital of Pickleball appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Tourism is booming in Jamaica, with numbers continuing to exceed projections, according to the island’s Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett. 

Last year, the island welcomed a total of 1,464,399 stavover visitors, according to new data from the Jamaica Tourist Board. 

That number led to nearly $2 billion in visitor spending, with visitors staying for even longer trips — an average of 9.1 nights in 2021. 

The latter represented an increase from the 7.9 nights-per-trip average in 2019, before the onset of the pandemic. 

“The fact that we exceeded visitor arrivals and spend projections for 2021 is a clear testament to the strength and resilience of Jamaica’s tourism product as well as the excellent relationships we enjoy with our travel industry partners,” Bartlett said in a statement. “As we are gradually relaxing travel restrictions, we fully expect a stronger recovery as consumers from our key source markets are resuming international travel in steadily growing numbers.”

Visitors from the United States dominated the island’s tourism growth, accounting for 1,278,679 arrivals last year — or about 87 percent of all travelers to the island in 2021. 

And the trend has continued in the first quarter of 2022. 

This past weekend, Jamaica welcomed 27,00 visitors to the island, with 8,700 on Saturday alone — representing the highest number for a single day since the country first reopened its borders in June 2020. 

For 2022, Jamaica is projecting around 2.5 million visitor arrivals, with projected visitor spend of around $2.9 billion. 

For more, visit Jamaica. 

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Another Caribbean island has completely removed its testing requirements: the Eastern Caribbean paradise of Grenada. 

Grenada’s government has lifted all restrictions for entry into the island, regardless of vaccination status, meaning neither vaccinated nor unvaccinated travelers have any restrictions. 

That means travelers don’t have to take any tests before arrival, don’t have to fill out a health declaration form and don’t have to quarantine. 

Grenada is the latest destination to make the move, joining a small but growing list of islands without any testing rules, a trend that began when Curacao did so last month. 

In other words, planning your trip to Grenada is just as it was before the onset of the pandemic — with one primary distinction: the still-required CDC return test for all travelers coming back to the United States. (Only Caribbean destinations that are part of the United States, most notably the uber-popular US Virgin Islands, are exempt from this requirement).

For more, visit Grenada. 

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